MANDORLA #2, Spring 1992

PO Box 117 Cooper Station
New York NY, 10003

222 pp., $10.00

"Nueva Escritura
de las Américas * New Writing from the Americas"--a
door between two languages that swings both ways.
A sumptuous collection of writing, mostly new and mostly
translated from it's mother-tongue into it's sister's,
or neighbor's. Beyond just translation, however, MANDORLA
helps put the work into context--so, for instance,
the Spanish translation from Gertrude Stein's Tender
Buttons is followed by Michael Davidson's short "Lecture
on Stein", again translated into Spanish. Or,
to illuminate Clayton Eshleman's translations of César
Vallejo, we get an essay by Eshleman on the translation
process, and another essay (in Spanish) on Vallejo's
writings about art. Other treats for English-monolinguals:
Xavier Villaurrutia's poetry (again with an essay by
the translator, as well as a further essay by Octavio
Paz), and Salvador Elizondo's story "Coprophagia";
Spanish speakers get Paul Metcalf's "John Wilkes
Booth," and an essay by Guy Davenport on Louis
Zukovsky's "A"--and there's more. Multi-culturism
that is neither condescending nor exotic, this magazine
models a kind of respect that truly enriches all of
the culture(s) it touches.--luigi